A Moon for the Misbegotten Characters

Characters Discussed

Mike Hogan, the last of three brothers at home; he is twenty years old. As the play opens, his only sister, Josie, helps him to leave home behind the back of their father, who has treated his sons like slaves, though he has not been able to treat Josie like one.

Josie Hogan

Josie Hogan, who is much older than Mike, a very tall, muscular woman who has cultivated the reputation of being blatantly immoral and sexually involved with many men, but who is in fact a virgin who has acted thus because her appearance humiliates her and makes her believe that she can never attract a man.

Phil Hogan

Phil Hogan, their father, a widower, alcoholic, and tenant farmer in Connecticut. He and Josie have frequent brawls that are partially pleasurable playacting. Because of her size, Josie always wins, as she does when he learns of Mike’s escape and is genuinely furious. He is secretly aware of the falsity of Josie’s reputation and tries, through a series of ruses, to bring her and Tyrone together.

T. Stedman Harder

T. Stedman Harder, a nearby estate owner who would like to buy the property, though actually Tyrone will buy it and keep the Hogans as tenants. Early in the play, Harder complains that Phil’s pigs come to his pond and mess things up; in a hilarious scene, Phil and Josie turn the tables on him and make him try (unsuccessfully) to make a dignified...